Year: 3205
The Military Academy
Grand Master Vulcano:
"A crystal in the sword's core?" I ask. Though I expected Master Storm to manage his little mission with success, it seems this Senior Fall, or whoever he really is, is more unpredictable than I thought. I can never be too certain of what his true motives are apart from protecting the two Elementals that Pool brought here. Senior Fall seems to have given up Blaze though. What seems to be the case is that he doesn't have the abilities to fight the hold I already have on her. It will only be a matter of time before she fully embraces the support I've offered.
"Yes, Grand Master. It was radiating a light blue color as if it contained a life force of some kind." Master Storm mentions. I turn thoughtful for a moment. My dead brother comes to mind. He was smarter than I probably ever gave him credit for while he was still alive. No matter what, he always made plans in case of emergencies. He knew that when he came here, he would probably die. He knew he wouldn't ever live to see earth ever again. That means he must've had some kind of insurance that he left behind for Breeze. He was prepared.
"It seems that I may have underestimated my brother." Master Storm gives me a confused look. "Thinking about it, my brother didn't make much of an attempt to fight back Blaze when I controlled her to throw her flames at him. He didn't want to hurt her, which was partially why, but it also seemed as though he didn't really have an element to fight with." Storm turns thoughtful. "So you're suggesting he had his element drained from himself and that's what that crystal contains?" He asks. "It is the only thing that makes sense. The crystal stabilized the boy's weapon, and at some point, I suspect the boy is meant to inherit those powers."
I get up on my feet. "We need to find this Martian and immobilize him. He'll probably be more careful after your encounter, but we cannot waste any more time. We've wasted too much already." I turn my head towards him. "I would love to fulfill that wish for you, Grand Master, but he's a Martian. He has super-speed powers which tends to make him hard to catch." Master Storm answers. "His speed is indeed a problem. We need to slow him down." I let out, agreeing with Master Storm. Master Storm has been adamant on this Martian's major threat, and now we have to eliminate it.
"How do you suggest we do that?" I cross my arms for a moment, deep in thought. I actually want to have a good look at this Martian myself if I am honest. I want to find out who he is. He was clearly a friend of my brother and I want to know for how long. "We make our threats a reality. We remind him and the boy that we are not messing around with our threats." I look up at Master Storm. "Patrol the halls. Send the Seniors to their chambers. I don't want any chance of disturbance." I command.
Blaze:
When I open my eyes and sit up from the poor mattress I sleep on, I feel uneasy. I am all alone in here in terms of people that I actually know. Breeze is still at the hospital, considering that duel happened yesterday. I'm assuming that Rain is there with him and that Ember is there too. Ember has been trying to figure out what Rain and Breeze are holding back from us. She hasn't been able to figure it out, but she's a patient one. I'll at least give her that much. I have given up on the other hand. I've given up on trying to get Breeze or even his brother Rain to tell me something. I want to know what they're not telling us...or more to the point, not telling me.
These thoughts are not the reason I'm up though. There's a stabbing pain in the back of my head that's bothered me for the last half hour or so. I don't know what's happening, but I know that I don't like it. I recognize it too. It happened to me earlier and now it's happening again. It almost feels like something inside me is waking up and tries to take over my body. "You need to fight it!" A sudden voice urges me. "You can't let him win! You need to fight him!" Him? Who? The voice, in the way it speaks sounds familiar. It's almost like I recognize the person, but the voice sounds so contorted that I can't place it.
"I can't..." I let out quietly. I can feel my entire body shaking. I struggle to control myself. Whatever it is inside of me that keeps trying to break free seems to be strong enough to shut that voice out and tear me apart. "Help me...please..." I almost break down and cry as I say it. This pain is just overwhelming. I can't fight it anymore. It's impossible to ignore the stabbing pain and I'm starting to believe that it's impossible to survive. "The pain is just a trick! If you give up, you lose..." The voice manages to get through before it's cut off again.
I try to keep myself under enough control to walk out of the big room. I can't sit here with this pain. The only thing I want to do is cry and scream as loud as I can. That will obviously wake everybody up. They will point and look at me, and then as I walk past them, talk about me behind my back. I can't stand the thought of that. I didn't care before, but for some reason, I'm more vulnerable than ever. I just want this headache to freaking stop! The turmoil inside of my head won't stop tensing up. Everything I have in terms of emotions, memory and temper are amplified to a volume that I can't handle.
"Grand Master...I need your help..." I let out. I didn't think I would ever mutter the words. Never in my life, considering what Breeze and I were curious about at the beginning of our time here, did I think I would beg the Grand Master for his help. At this point however, I don't see any other options. He offered me his help. If I had just accepted it immediately, this maybe wouldn't have happened. Perhaps I would've been in a deep sleep in the big room with all of the other Elementals. No, I had to be stubborn and suspicious. He's just trying to help. I should accept it while I still can.
"The Grand Master won't be interested in helping you, kid. He will never be interested in what you want, only what he wants. He is going to use you." I suddenly hear in front of me. I look up and I am surprised to see Senior Fall standing there. He's got a far more serious look on his face. I almost didn't recognize him. There's nothing there of the usual smugness. "What the hell do you know about him?" I snap at him. For some reason I don't have the time for a lecture. I don't know why I snap at him, I just do. "A lot more than you think. You may not like me, but I'm not an enemy of yours. You need to consider your allies and enemies carefully."
The pain continues to grow in volume. I almost want to scream. Actually, I just do. I can't hold it back anymore. It's become too much for me to withstand. I sense that my blackout is near. I recognize the sensation of that because of how I've had it happen to my before. I'm about to lose my mind again and experience a huge hole in my memory. I don't know why this keeps happening to me, but eventually, this one time, I don't fight it anymore.
Senior Fall/Aqú:
Her sudden shut down starts to worry me. I sense that she's just giving up. She can't fight the Grand Master's torments anymore. The scream earlier was merely a signal for him to pick her up and take over her powers from within. That's what I am sensing is going to happen. Her entire stature has gone from shaking uncontrollably to a sudden calm, which I find intimidating for some reason. She rises back up on her feet, calm as the wind, but what I see underneath those eyes tells the story of a completely different scenario. An inferno is about to come my way.
I'm not anticipating that move however. I don't expect her to just suddenly throw her flames at me, but she does. The fire punch that she delivers is more than enough to leave me more vulnerable. I can't get away from this now. The flames she threw were deliberately aimed at my feet, which means I can't run in my super-speed. "Get out of there, Aqú. He's coming." The warming catches me off guard. I haven't spoken with my brothers on Mars for a couple of days. I'm the one contacting them when I think it's safe. Now they don't seem to care. They know something I don't. Unfortunately I'm not smart enough to take their advice before the Grand Master himself arrives.
"Senior Fall...or, I'm not entirely sure what your real name is. We haven't officially spoken to each other before. I thought it was about time I finally got to see you." I look at him, Pool's brother. The only thing I can think when I see him, is that angry boy who was hell-bent on not surrendering to us on Mars a couple of decades ago. Even then, one could see the contours of what he would do to us if he did in fact reach the level of Master, or worse, Grand Master. Even though he and Pool surrendered, he didn't give up. When I look at him now, I see the exact same thing as before. Only now, he's using an emotionally unstable and troubled girl to get exactly what he wants.
I look over at Blaze for a quick moment, how she can seem so present in the moment, but at the same time she's not. I look back at the Grand Master. I'm sure he's eager to hear my voice after assuming he's never met me before...except he has. "I am almost disappointed, Vulcano. You and I, we have met before. I guess the arrogance from back then has festered viciously on you. You don't even remember that I met you and your brother on Mars a long time ago."
I fight my way up on my feet. I struggle to stand properly, but I don't lose my focus on Vulcano standing right in front of me. He looks a little bit confused. "You two were trapped, surrounded more to the point. It's almost funny, the look on your face. You wouldn't think that I was there that time. You probably think I was a kid back then, but we Martians don't age the same way as humans. We stay stronger and younger for much, much longer than any humans. So, I may look too young, but I was there that day. In fact..."
"...I was the Martian who let you go. The way I see it, you owe me."